10 Ways to Gain Targeted Insights Into User Behavior

When optimizing your website for more conversion, there are several factors that matter. Some things, such as the usability and accessibility of your content, can easily be tested and optimized before your site goes live. Then, after launch, there are lots of things that you can measure, such as where people come from, what pages they look at, how long they visit, or where they decide to leave you site.

When optimizing your website for more conversion, there are several factors that matter. Some things, such as the usability and accessibility of your content, can easily be tested and optimized before your site goes live. Then, after launch, there are lots of things that you can measure, such as where people come from, what pages they look at, how long they visit, or where they decide to leave you site.

These insights can be quite interesting and they can certainly help you improve your conversion — if you know how to interpret them. In order to take specific action on any analytical data, you need to understand why people act the way they do on your site. What are their goals? What is their motivation? Why do they leave without making a purchase? The most reasonable and quickest way to find out what drives your visitors is to just ask them. However, not all your visitors are the same. Neither are they equally important when conducting research on your site — be it usability, or market related research. Here are 10 easy ways to gain targeted insights with Usabilla Live campaigns that will help you better understand your visitors.

1. Target first-time visitors

Something especially interesting to marketers is the question “How do people find our site?” With analytic tools, you can see where people come from and whether they are first-time visitors or not. What you don’t see is how they found out about your site. They might come from google, but only because they were looking for your site after a friend had told them about it. Knowing how people found you can be a valuable piece of information to optimize your marketing strategy and first-time contacts.

However, you might only want to target first-time visitors to make sure you don’t bother people with the same questions every time they visit. Also, first-time visitors still have a much better idea how they found your site. A quick one-question survey in a subtle slide-out message won’t scare your visitors off. Here is what your campaign could look like:

Target first-time visitors with Slide-out Survey.

Campaign type: Slide-out SurveyTargeting options:

Target only first-time visitors

Show campaign after 5 seconds

2. Target recurring visitors

Especially for more detailed surveys you might only want to invite recurring visitors. Recurring visitors can be considered more loyal users, willing to engage with your website and as such with your brand or products. Also, if you want to know more than just one quick question, first-time visitors might be overwhelmed or annoyed. You can expect recurring visitors to be much more open and and willing to help you.

For example, recurring visitors are an interesting target group for questions about a possible redesign. You can expect them to be familiar with your site and to have an opinion about what they do and don’t like. When redesigning your site, this is something you should take very serious. Why not recruit them for a visual Usabilla Survey to gather feedback on your ideas in an early design stage? Here is what your campaign could look like:

3. Target visitors on a certain page

You are probably interested in what people think on certain pages on your site. You might want to ask content-specific questions, or target only visitors that engage with a specific page. Either way, you will probably want to show your campaign only on those pages. To make giving feedback as convenient for your visitors as possible, keep it simple. Only ask one or two question at a time. You can choose to ask different questions to different visitors. Here is what your campaign could look like:

Target only visitors that visit a certain page.

Campaign type: Slide-out SurveyTargeting options:

Target only visitors to http://website/example_page

Show campaign after 10 seconds

4. Target recurring visitors on a certain page

Are you interested in more detailed information about what people think on a specific page? In this case, you should probably focus on recurring visitors instead of first-time visitors. Chances are good that recurring visitors are more familiar with your site and have a stronger opinion. For example, when you see that many people leave your site on the pricing page, without making a purchase, ask them why. People probably have a pretty good reason to leave, and if you show them that you care, they won’t mind answering a few question to help you improve the site. Here is what your campaign could look like:

Target recurring visitors on a certain page with a content specific survey.

Campaign type: Full SurveyTargeting options:

Target only visitors to http://website/example_page

Target only recurring visitors

Show campaign after 20 seconds

5. Target visitors on a certain page, after a certain time

Often enough, people stay on a page for a long time, without taking any action. Don’t you want to find out what their problem is? You could run a campaign and ask those specific visitors what they are looking for and whether or not they can find it. This doesn’t only help you better understand your visitors, it also shows that you care about whether or not people get stuck on your site. Here is what your campaign could look like:

Target visitors after they have spent a certain time on a certain page.

Campaign type: Slide-out SurveyTargeting options:

Target only visitors on a certain page

Show campaign after 60 seconds

6. Target a certain percentage of your visitors

Are you getting too many feedback responses? Or don’t you want to ask people for feedback every time they visit your site? Or do you want to run two different campaigns simultaneously? Then you can show your campaign only to a certain percentage of your visitors. Here is what your campaign could look like to help you keep your number of Live Feedback responses in check:

Target only a certain percentage of your visitors to keep Live Feedback responses in check.

7. Target visitors that scroll down a certain page

Some visitors engage more with your site than others. These people might be of particular interest to you. For one, active visitors are more likely to have an opinion about your site and content. Second, visitors that engage with you site are more likely to want to help you improve it. Also, people might need to scroll down a certain page in order to see certain content. If you are interested in what people think about that specific content, make sure that people saw it before you ask them questions about it. For example, you can target only visitors that scroll down to a certain area on a certain page. Here is what your campaign could look like:

Target visitors that scroll down a certain page to a certain area.

Campaign type: Slide-out SurveyTargeting options:

Target only visitors to http://website/example_page

Target visitors that scroll down to n pixels before the bottom of the page

8. Target visitors that have visited at least n pages

Another way to find out if people are actively engaging with your site is to count the number of pages they have visited. For example, you can invite very active visitors to a customer satisfaction survey. The fact that you only target people that are already involved with your site allows you to work with a longer and more detailed survey. Here is what your campaign could look like:

Target visitors that have visited at least a certain number of pages.

Campaign type: Full SurveyTargeting options:

Target only visitors that have visited at least n pages

Show campaign after 10 seconds

9. Target visitors that leave a certain page

You might have observed that many visitors leave a certain page without engaging in a desired action, such as a purchase, or a sign up. It’s time to find out why they leave rather than commit to a relationship with your site. Again, the easiest way to go about this is to just ask your visitors. Here is what your campaign could look like:

Ask your visitors to find out why they act the way they do.

Campaign type: Slide-out SurveyTargeting options:

Target only visitors to http://website/example_page

Target visitors that leave the page (mouse-out effect)

10. Target visitors that visited n pages and then leave

As mentioned before, for more extensive surveys, you might want to target visitors with high engagement. Also for exit surveys, this will grant you valuable insights into why people leave your site. You can for example combine different targeting options and invite those people to your survey that have visited at least a certain number of pages. Here is what your campaign could look like:

Target visitors that have visited a certain number of pages and then decide to leave.

Campaign type: Full SurveyTargeting options:

Target only visitors that have visited at least n pages

Target visitors that leave a page (mouse-out effect)

Your thoughts?

There you have it. 10 ways how you can use Usabilla Live campaigns to gain better insights into what drives your visitors. Let us know what you think and if you have other ideas for quick, or in-depth online surveys. We appreciate your feedback.